Governor



P. ARMINGTON.

(No Model.)

GOVERNOR.

No. 247,527. Patented Sept. 27,1881,

Wifizastsea.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PARDON ARMINGTON, OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

GOVERNOR.

SPEGIliFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,527, dated September 27, 1881. Application filed July 18, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PARDo'N ARMINGTON, of Lawrence,Essex county, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Governors for Steam-Engines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyin g drawings, is'a specification.

My invention relates to a governor for steamengines, and is embodied in a governor of that class in which the valve-operating eccentric is moved relative to its shaft by cen trifugally-act ing weights to vary the throw of the valve, and

I thus control the admission of steam to the engine-cylinder and govern the engine.

In the present apparatus the centrifugal weights and their balancing-springs are constructed substantially as in a former patent, N 0. 241,585, granted to me May 17, 1881, to which reference may be had. In that patent the eccentric was moved in a carriage across the shaft to vary its eccentricities and control the valve, and the connection between the eccentric carriage and the centrifugal weights was such that the carriage would not be moved by the reaction of the valve-stem and valve. The rectilinear movement of the eccentric at right angles to the center line of the, engine insures a uniform lead-openin g, while the closing or cut-off point of the valve is variable with the movement of the eccentric. This same object I am enabled to accomplish in my present invention, which consists in mounting the main or valve-operating eccentric upon a secondary eccentric, itself mounted upon the main shaft, the said secondary eccentric being movable angularly about the main shaft and the valve-operating eccentrics being movable angularly about the secondary eccentric in such manner that as the weights approach their center of rotation under the action of their controllingsprings as the engine runs more slowly the cocentricities of the two eccentrics will be partially added together or lie toward the same side of the main shaft; but when the weights are most remote from their center of the revolution, as caused by an increase in the speed of the engine, the eccentricities of the two eccentrics will lie in opposite directions relative to the center of movement of each, the center of the main or valve-operating eccentric lying between the center of the main shaft and that a of position of the main or valve-operating eccentric relative to the main shaft is substantially rectilinear, and the lead-opening of the valve is maintained constant, the same as when the eccentric moves on a carriage in straight guides, as in my formerpatent referred to.

Figurel is a side elevation of a governor constructed in accordance with my invention, the Weights, bein gin their extreme inward position, giving the maximum eccentricity of the main eccentrics and maximum throw of the valve; Fig. 2, a similar view,-but with the weights in their extreme outward position,the eccentricity of the main eccentric then being at a minimum, sufficient to give only thelead-opening to the valve; Fig. 3, a side elevation thereof, part of the periphery of the supporting case or wheel being broken away; and Fig. 4, a det-lil showing the secondary or inner eccentric and its lug for connection with the actuating-weight.

The main supporting frame or wheel A, fixed upon to rotate with the main shaft B, is shown in both figures as being in the position assumed when the engine-piston is at the end of its stroke or the crank on the center line of the engine, and the eccentric is consequently in the proper position to give the valve its leadopening.

The centrifugal weights (4 b, pivoted at 2 3, respectively, and connected by the link 0 to operate simultaneously, are held in equilibrium by springs d 0, connected with the said weights and reacting against abutments fg, all substantially as in my former patent hereinloefore referred to.

The main or valve-operating eccentric h,- which receives the eccentric-strap connected with eccentric-rod and valve, is connected with the extreme end of one of the weights (herein shown as the one marked a) by a link, i, and is mounted to rotate eccentrically upon the secondary eccentric k, so that as the weight it moves from the position shown in Fig. l to that shown in Fig. 2 the center 10 of the said main eccentric rotates around the center 12 of the secondary eccentric, as indicated by the curved arrow starting from the point 10 in Fig. 1.

The secondary eccentric 7:, mounted to rotate about the main shaft B, is provided with a lug, 122, connected by a link, a, with the weight a, so that the movement of the weight a from the position shown in Fig. l to that shown in Fig. 2 also produces an angular movement in the eccentric 70 around the main shaft in the opposite direction to that of the eccentric it around the said eccentric k, as just described, its center 12 moving in the path of the curved arrow starting therefrom in Fig. 1.

It will be understood that the curved arrow starting at 10 represents the movementof the center of the eccentric 7t relative to that of the one it; but since the said center of the one It" is at the same time moving around the main shaft, the absolute movement of the center of the eccentric h relative to the main shaft I will be a compound of the two movements represented by the curved arrows, which will bethe substantially straight line indicated by the straight arrow starting from the point 10 in Fig. 1, the point of which indicates the position of the center of the eccentric h in Fig. 2 where it is nearest to the center of the shaft B, and it will be seen that the perpendicular distance from the center of the shaft B to the straight arrow starting from the point 10 represents the movement of the valve which produces its lead-opening, and that the said leadopening is therefore constant in all positions of the eccentric h and under all running conditions of the engine.

I am aware that an eccentric movable angularly about a shaft by centrifugal weights has been used to vary the throw of a cutoffvalve-operatic g eccentric mounted upon it, but not itself also movedindependently about the main shaft. In such an arrangement the center of the outer eccentric does not move in a straight line as the position of the centrifugal weight is changed, and the lead-openin g is not maintained constant, as in this invention.

I claim- 1. The combination, with the centrifngallyoperating weight, of main and secondary eccentrics, both actuated thereby, the former being movable about the latter, which is itself movable about the main shaft, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with the connected centrifugal weights, of the two eccentrics, one mounted upon the other and both connected by links with the said weights and moved simultaneously thereby, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The shaft and main and secondary eccentrics thereon, combined with means to move the said eccentrics simultaneously, the said eccentrics being proportioned and their independent movement governed as described, whereby the resnltant movement of the main eccentric relative to the main shaft is substantially rectilinear, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

PARDON ARMINGTON.

Witnesses:

DAVID T. PORTER, J. S. BoNNEY. 

